Confirmed with Link: Laughton (50% retention), a 4th and a 6th to the Leafs for a conditional 2027 1st round pick and Nikita Grebenkin

[BrannigansLaw]

I always thought he was a plug and never wanted us to acquire him.

That cost is highway robbery for a supposedly grittier David Kampf

 

[mydnyte]

I can't believe they paid a 1st+ for this guy. As bad or worse than the Foligno deal after seeing him play.

OMG, would you rather have had 5'9" Gourde for the same or greater price?

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

OMG, would you rather have had 5'9" Gourde for the same or greater price?

Laughton has been horrendous for the Leafs so far.

Easily the worst player on both teams for both games he's played. They could have just kept Reaves and saved the assets. Reaves would probably actually have been both a better player and a more effective detterent than Laughton the chump has been so far.

This trade couldn't possibly have started off looking any worse than it has.

 

[DuklaNation]

Don't trade 1sts for 3rd line scrubs.

 

[The Shadow]

Don't trade 1sts for 3rd line scrubs.

They will never listen of course

Laughton offers zero offence. I still am shocked if they actually scouted him before dropping a first

 

[DuklaNation]

T

They will never listen of course

Laughton offers zero offence. I still am shocked if they actually scouted him before dropping a first

The scout was Berube probably, his former coach.

 

[Duffman955]

Holy f*** hes bad

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

All this news about Rantanen is interesting and, if true, represents a massive failing for Treliving.

But we shouldn't evaluate Treliving on "what if's" and "what could have been's". All we can do is assess him on what he's actually done. And he got taken like a sucker.

This deal was horrendous.

That fact doesn't change no matter how many rationalizations you throw at it. This looks like a last minute desperation move. And the price paid seems to reflect that.

If he actually did a lot of extensive work that would be even worse.

Because that implies he's the dumbest person in all hockey. If Treliving researched Laughton that much, and came to the conclusion Laughton was a 3C worth trading a 1st and Grebenkin for, then someone shouldn't be GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. They should just fire him now and replace him with Chumlee.

Chumlee makes better deals.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I know it's been two games so far but...



Oops.

 

[Skullz]

He has been really bad. I'd move Domi off his line and see how he looks before jumping to conclusions, but ugly so far no doubt.

 

[DarkKnight]

He will be fine lol. This place is steamy, and not in a pleasant way.

 

[robertmac43]

Reaves would probably actually have been both a better player and a more effective detterent than Laughton the chump has been so far.

What?

Wild take.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

What would a buyout look like? The fact that he has term is a loss not a win. Absolutely useless player to waste precious assets on.

 

[KPower]

Philly fleeced us. Kampf is better

 

[ER89]

Laughton is so f***ing garbage. Tre and the professional scouts that okayed this needs to be fired. Minten s a better 3c right now and I bet grebenkin will be way better than this pylon

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Worst case you flip him next year for a 2nd. Not a big deal. I have faith he’ll find a role in that bottom 6. If not, him and Domi will be good trade chips next year to get us some better suited bottom 6ers.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Worst case you flip him next year for a 2nd. Not a big deal. I have faith he’ll find a role in that bottom 6. If not, him and Domi will be good trade chips next year to get us some better suited bottom 6ers.

Just gotta find a playoff team with a lack of defensively oblivious offensive zone penalty enthusiasts, you can’t win in the playoffs without these guys.

 

[Kurtz]

Bad start, but doesn't seem terribly wise to draw definitive conclusions based on 2 games.

 

[arso40]

It's not neccessarily about what that 1st round pick might end up being in 5 years, it's about the currency value that a 1st round pick carries... although there is serious downside potential in that it could become a 2028 unprotected first.

1st Round Picks are the most common, universally accepted / valued, currency when it comes to making trades.

You want to go after one of the top fish in a deadline period? you better have a 1st available... Carlo, Walman, Gourde and Bjorkstrand, Jones, Marchand, Granlund, all garnered 1st round picks.

You want to go after a really big fish like Brock Nelson? you better have a 1st round plus a recently drafted 1st round pick.

You want to go after a huge fish like Mikko Rantanen? you better have multiple 1sts available.

Even looking back, Pettersson/O'Connor, JT Miller, David Jiricek all garnered 1st round picks.

Come this offseason, the Leafs may have to look at the trade market for filling out their forward group. It's hard to convince a team in summer 2025 or trade deadline 2026 to wait for a 2028 first rounder... it's part of the reason why it took both that 1st and Grebenkin to get Laughton.

The Carlo deal is hard to hate because the guy is a top 4, big right shot defenceman with a great contract that has 2 years left.

The Laughton deal, you've got a guy who's being brought in as a #3 centre, but isn't really a great #3c, and while useful, still leaves you thinking "we should probably consider upgrading our #3c".

He’ll probably be flipped next year to replenish the draft capital

 

[Evilhomer]

I'd wager that Leafs fans love this guy somewhere around the end of May.

 

[Stephen]

Hey, fair enough, but I feel like using Laughton's last three seasons represents who he is as a player more accurately (and fairly), as using his rookie seasons, etc., doesn't represent the player he is now.

He's currently on a 0.45 PPG pace which is 0.05 PPG off his entire career average. Point is, he fits seamlessly onto Team B on the Leafs and that's not what we need.

At least when we got ROR he was a middle six bridge and you got the sense the core expanded a little bit. That's not Laughton.

 

[Confucius]

He's currently on a 0.45 PPG pace which is 0.05 PPG off his entire career average. Point is, he fits seamlessly onto Team B on the Leafs and that's not what we need.

At least when we got ROR he was a middle six bridge and you got the sense the core expanded a little bit. That's not Laughton.

if Laughton plays like he has always played, he isn’t worth a 1st plus. Trev just trading away a 1st for the sake of trying to appear he was doing something.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

I'd wager that Leafs fans love this guy somewhere around the end of May.

I'd wager you are wrong like 100 percent of your other predictions.

 

[Stephen]

if Laughton plays like he has always played, he isn’t worth a 1st plus. Trev just trading away a 1st for the sake of trying to appear he was doing something.

I agree.

My thought is in order to be a real championship contender, we actually needed a 2C slotted in a 3C position, not just any 3C to fill that spot.

This was basically the 2023 trade deadline strategy when Toronto went out and got ROR so they had the option to go with Matthews-Tavares-O'Reilly-Kerfoot-Kampf, with the possibility of shifting JT to the wing, or going back even further, when we had Matthews-Tavares-Kadri.

This was just a trade for the sake of pleasing the room.

 

[Jozay]

He’s physical Alex Kerfoot lol